In Hebrew the term for military medal rhymes with the term for lance-corporal.  The IDF has a slang term, "lance-corporal or medal ("Tzalash or Tarash"), which means, when its dark, there's gunfire, and a figure moves towards you in the shadows you've got to make a quick decision whether to shoot or not. Option one - You don't shoot, and it turns out to be a grenade carrying terrorist, or you do shoot, and it turns out to be an unarmed pensioner. Option two - the reverse. And now we have this ethicist sitting in an armchair and talkng about the results. As for the idea of a "just war" - well, only one side is ever going to call a war "just", and the other side is going to call it "unprovoked aggression".  Depends which side you are on. So the argument is purely subjective.